1. Field of the Invention
The invention herein pertains to the field of herbicides. In particular, the invention pertains to a synergistic herbicidal composition having as the active ingredient a mixture of N-(butoxymethyl)-6'-tert-butyl-2-chloro-o-acetotoluidide and S-(2,3-dichloroallyl) N,N-diisopropylthiocarbamate (common name "diallate"). The herbicidal composition herein has particular application in the control of undesired plants associated with sugarbeets and cereal crops, e.g., wheat and barley.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the prior art to use various carbamates or thiolcarbamates as herbicides, either individually or in combination with various other herbicidal compounds. In such carbamate compounds, the nitrogen substituents and ester moieties are commonly phenyl, benzyl, alkyl or alkenyl groups which may be substituted with halogen or alkoxy groups, but other groups may also be used.
The particular thiocarbamate of interest herein and use as a component of the combination herbicide of the present invention, i.e., S-(2,3-dichloroallyl) N,N-diisopropylthiocarbamate ("diallate" hereinafter for brevity), is a known compound having herbicidal use. The preparation of diallate, herbicidal compositions containing same and use thereof are covered in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,167,571, 3,330,821 and 3,330,643. In addition, diallate is the active ingredient in Monsanto Company's commercial Avadex herbicide; "Avadex" is a registered trademark of that company.
A variety of chemical compounds have been admixed with various members of the above-mentioned carbamates in efforts to discover new herbicidal compositions having unique additive, antagonistic or synergistic properties with respect to different weed plants associated with various crop plants. Illustrative of prior art herbicide mixtures containing carbamates and other herbicidal compounds are those containing various aryl alkyl ureas such as fenuron (1,1-dimethyl-3-phenylurea), monuron (1,1-dimethyl-3-p-chlorophenylurea), diuron (1,1-dimethyl-3-(3,4-dichlorophenylurea), neburon [3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-n-butyl-1-methylurea], or similar ureas wherein the nitrogen or phenyl groups are substituted with a methoxy radical (U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,299 and Belgian Pat. No. 819,097). Other carbamate herbicide mixtures contain 1-phenyl-4-amino-5-chloropyridazine (Belgian Pat. No. 810,793); or a 4,4'-bipyridylium quaternary salt (Japanese Pat. No. 7204000); or 3,4-dichloropropionanilide (Japanese Pat. No. 7301486); or 2,4-D and/or MCPA (British Pat. No. 1301613); or pentachlorophenol or a salt thereof (Japanese Pat. No. 7102520). Diallate is the thiocarbamate component in the above Belgian Pat. No. 810,793.
It is also known in the prior art to use various 2-halo-2',6'-dialkyl-N-(alkoxyalkyl) acetanilides as herbicides either individually or in combination with other herbicidal compounds. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,132 discloses the herbicidal use of 2-chloro-2',6'-diethyl-N-(methoxymethyl) acetanilide (common name alachlor) admixed with 3'-(carbamoyloxy) anilides. British Pat. No. 1,176,547 discloses the herbicidal use of a mixture of alachlor and linuron, i.e., 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-methoxy-1-methylurea. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,442,945 and 3,547,620 disclose a broad class of herbicidal 2-halo-2',6'-dialkyl-N-(alkoxyalkyl) acetanilides, expressly including N-(butoxymethyl)-6'-tert-butyl-2-chloro-o-acetotoluidide; this compound has tentatively been designated as "terbuchlor"; (an application by applicant's assignee is pending before the American Standards Institute for registration of this name as the common name for said compound). Hence, the term "terbuchlor" will sometimes be used hereafter in the specification for brevity.
To applicant's knowledge, there has been no recognition or disclosure in the prior art of a herbicidal composition comprising terbuchlor and a thiocarbamate, in particular diallate, which together impart complementary, supplementary and/or synergistic action with respect, particularly, to undesirable vegetation associated with sugarbeets and cereal crops, such as wheat and barley.
The phenomenon of synergism is well known to those skilled in the art and, in the herbicidal art, relates to herbicidal compositions of mixed components whose total herbicidal effect is unexpectedly greater than the additive effect of the individual components on particular plants or a spectrum of plants. The use of synergistic mixtures for the control of plant growth permits the utilization of a lesser total amount of herbicidal composition and/or lesser quantities of individual components in the composition to obtain the same or improved results than are obtained when a greater amount of herbicidal composition containing only the individual components or additive mixtures thereof. The use of lesser quantities of active ingredients in a herbicidal composition may also increase the margin of crop safety in the use of those active ingredients.
The concepts of synergism and antagonism (i.e., negative, neutralizing or nullifying effect of one component on another component) in herbicidal combinations have been reduced to mathematical formulation and graphical representation by some authors. For example, by the method described by S. R. Colby in "Weeds," Volume 15, No. 1 (1967) pages 20-22, the expected response of a combination of herbicides is obtained by taking the product of the percent-of-control values for the individual herbicides and dividing by (100).sup.n-1 where n is the number of herbicides in the combination.
Another method of expressing synergism and antagonism is described by P. M. L. Tammes in "Netherlands Journal of Plant Pathology", 70 (1964), 73-80. By the Tammes method, a graphic representation is given of the effect of mixtures of herbicides. Each of the components is expressed as a coordinate on a graph and a quantitatively defined effect, e.g., a percent plant mortality, e.g., 50%, 85%, etc., is inserted in the graph. These values are obtained by interpolation. The line which connects the points is called an "isobole." With an isobole the effect of different proportions of the individual components can be evaluated. The Tammes isoboles method has proven reliable in evaluating the synergistic effect of the herbicidal composition of this invention.
As used herein the term "active ingredient" denotes a mixture of terbuchlor and diallate having the combined supplementary, complementary and synergistic properties unique to this mixture.
The term "plant" as used herein encompasses dormant seeds, germinant seeds, germinative seeds, emerging seedlings and established vegetation including roots and above-ground portions.
The term "control" as used herein is inclusive of the effects of killing, inhibiting the growth, reproduction or proliferation and removing, destroying or otherwise diminishing the occurrence or activity of plants and is applicable to any of the stated effects or combinations thereof.